Africa Business

Kenyan security forces on Thursday fired tear gas against demonstrators protesting a death in police custody, clashes that threatened to overshadow government attempts to pass a budget without sparking unrest.The government carefully prepared its new finance bill with the aim of avoiding the massive protests over tax hikes that engulfed Kenya a year ago.But the …

Protests over police killing in Kenya as govt presents budget Read More »

There is a constant hum around Ethiopia’s enormous Lake Dembel — the sound of its water steadily being sucked out by pumps.The pumps irrigate farms all around the lake, which is four times the size of Manhattan, and are vital for hundreds of thousands of people. Ethiopia has already lost at least one large lake — …

Ethiopia’s vast lake being pumped dry Read More »

In its more than three years in Mali, the Russian paramilitary group Wagner kidnapped, detained and tortured hundreds of civilians, including at former UN bases and camps shared with the country’s army, according to a report published Thursday by a journalist collective.The victims, who were interviewed by a consortium of reporters led by investigative outlet …

Hundreds of civilians were tortured by Wagner mercenaries in Mali: report Read More »

As President Bola Tinubu praised his country’s quarter century of democratic rule Thursday, many of the streets around the Nigerian capital carried a different, perhaps less-inspiring message.To name a few: Sani Abacha Way takes commuters into downtown Abuja. Ibrahim Babangida Way meanwhile cuts through upscale Maitama. Murtala Muhammed Expressway passes next to the presidency and …

In Nigeria, the juntas are history, but street names live forever Read More »

South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns, a team used to dominating possession, may have their time with the ball considerably reduced at the Club World Cup, says coach Miguel Cardoso.  The Pretoria outfit are outsiders in Group F with Fluminense and Borussia Dortmund expected to advance to the knockout phase in the United States at the …

Sundowns must adapt to less possession, warns coach Cardoso Read More »

The number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide has dropped slightly from a record peak but remains “untenably high”, the United Nations said Thursday.A record 123.2 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes at the end of 2024, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.But that figure dropped to 122.1 million by …

122 million forcibly displaced worldwide ‘untenably high’: UN Read More »

Burundi’s veteran ruling party won every seat in last week’s parliamentary elections, the electoral commission said Wednesday, in a vote critics and observers say was tainted by irregularities.”Nationally, the CNDD-FDD came first with 96.51 percent of the vote,” election commission chief Prosper Ntahorwamiye said in a live televised ceremony.None of the other parties obtained two …

Burundi ruling party wins all seats in legislative vote Read More »

A winter chill hung over the windswept cemetery in South Africa’s eastern town of Cradock where the untended graves of four activists assassinated by the apartheid regime were watched over by a monument in their memory, itself in disrepair.In the city of Gqeberha two hours’ drive away, the murders in 1985 of the young men …

‘We won’t rest’: S.African families seek justice for apartheid killings Read More »

Away from the heady rush to build ultra-capable, sci-fi style artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley, ambitious Nairobi-based startup Amini AI is betting on the technology addressing emerging countries’ prosaic problems in the here and now.Chief executive Kate Kallot aims for Amini — still a relatively small firm with $6 million in funding and 25 employees …

Nairobi startup’s bid to be ‘operating system for global South’ Read More »

Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday condemned the death of a man in police custody that has sparked widespread anger as the country prepares to mark a year since massive protests calling for change.Albert Ojwang, 31, was arrested in western Kenya over posts on social media accusing police deputy inspector-general Eliud Kipkoech Lagat of corruption. He …

Kenya president says death in police custody ‘unacceptable’ Read More »